Health

Can excercise prevent drug and alcohol addiction?

by Paul Conneally | September 1, 2008 at 11:13 pm

799 views | 5 Recommendations | 4 comments

It comes as no suprise to many that youths that undertake regular exercise are less likely to become involved with smoking, drugs, or alcohol. When young people are involved in positive activities, not only exercise activity, then they are less likely to be involved in negative activities. This latest report seems to suggest that the chemicals that the brain produces during excercise actively mitigate against drug use.

WASHINGTON—Sure, exercise is good for your waistline, your heart, your bones—but might it also help prevent addiction to drugs or alcohol?

There are some tantalizing clues that physical activity might spur changes in the brain to do that. Now the government is beginning a push for research to prove it.

The question is how regular physical activity of varying intensity—dancing, bicycling, swimming, tae kwon do—might affect mood, academic performance, even the very reward systems in the brain that can get hijacked by substance abuse.

What first caught the attention of National Institute on Drug Abuse chief Dr. Nora Volkow: A study found that tweens and teens who reported exercising daily were half as likely to smoke as their sedentary counterparts, and 40 percent less likely to experiment with marijuana.

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Pat Garcia

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 05:47 on September 2nd, 2008

LotusFlower, I like this story. It's good stuff.

williamgeorge (not verified)

at 04:20 on February 23rd, 2009

Exercise has long been known to produce positive cardiovascular effects. We”re now also finding that it has positive psychological effects as well, in the treatment and prevention of drug abuse, depression, and anxiety disorders. I think there’’s even more and we”re just beginning to scratch the surface.
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george

Alcoholism Information

Alcohol Abuse (not verified)

at 03:09 on April 22nd, 2009

Exercising is certainly one of the means of attaining a healthy lifestyle, but this alone can not help you get rid of your addiction. It can be a part of the treatment program, but one needs to seek professional help and speak with a knowledgeable counselor. Alcoholabuse.com provides comprehensive information about alcohol addiction. Their 24-hour helpline provides assistance in finding addiction treatment solutions as per your needs.

Alcohol Rehab (not verified)

at 21:09 on July 7th, 2009

I read once that teenagers who sit down to regular dinners with their families each evening are much less likely to engage in substance abuse related behavior or even develop drug and alcohol addictions. It's interesting that things as simple as sports or regular family time can keep a kid out of alcohol rehab as an adult! And here we are spending all this money to fight the war on drugs when the battle could be won so easily here at home!